The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-05-29
BACHELOR SEALS.
How TwO-Thirds of the Fur Bearers
are Tyrannized.

Many long-suffering husband whose
scanty purse has been depleted by the
cost Of his wife's seal cloak, has cursed
the fur seal. This animal, so graceful
in water and so clumsy upon lard,
would doubtless be satisfied to keep his
skin to himself and enjoy life if it was
not for the fact that men want to make
money. So do corporations, in this case
the Alaska Commercial Company. This
company has from time to time aroused
the wrath Of the people, who charged
them with sundry violations of the con-
tract with the government. This led
Congress to appoint committee of in
vestlgation in 1876, which reported in
due time that no just grounds of COM
plant existed.
In his History of Alaska" Herbert
Howe Bancroft has carefully considered
the matter and concluded, that the AL
aska Commercial Company have faith
agreement. This by no means disposes of
the justice of the hatred Of those hus-
bands, who have been told by their
wives that mo lady" can live without a
sealskin sacque. On the contrary, it
appears, that if the company had not
carefully preserved the breeding ground
OF the seals, this evil-worklng deyisor of
the high north would be nearly EXTERN
mated by this time and so Alaska would
be matter of the past.
The lease of the Alaska Commercial
Company comprises two small islands in
the Behring Sea, Just north OF the Aleci-
tan Chain and due west from Sitka.
These islands, st. George and st. Paul.
are visited by 5000 900 seals each year,
and of these the company is allowed to
kill 100 900 yearly, paying therefore an
annual rent of $55 GOO and tax of $25s
for each skin.
Among all these skins there is not one
of female seal. The cause of this is
not, as some people might suppose, res
pect for the gentler sex, but the simply
self-interest. The females are needed to
preserve the breed, and besides they
could not be killed without driving away
the whole crowd. OF the males only one
class is taken, namely the bachelors,
those who are of no use>to the commun-
ity. There are. however, far from being
bachelors by choice, nor is it, that they
could not find suitable mates, They are
simply deprived of their natural rights
by their stronger rivals, as the following
particulars will show:
During May and June the full-grOwn
males arrive on the islands and choose
locations on the rocks close to high
water mark. Towards the end of June
the females arrive. From the first land
in e Of the males a continual fight goes on
amoag them, the contest being for the
choicest spots. The stronger keep pos
session aud the weaker are driven
higher up away from the rockeries. Vet
Grams have been known to fight thirty
or forty battles in order to maintain
their ground. As soon as the females
arrive, the fighting ceases. The victors
receive their female visitors and the
others withdraw. Henceforth the
bachelors, as they are called, have to
live entirely apart from their more for
tunate brothers, who allow them, how
ever, to pass at will, day or night,
through the married quarters. No
well-conducted bachelor is moiested on
the way, but woe to him who looks ask
ant or shifts in the neighborhOod of a
harem. Loss of ripper or life is the.
penalty. Two thirds of ali the males
are forced to remain bachelors by the
strong and lucky other third.
From these bachelors exclusively the
victims are selected by the hunters. At
early dawn, when still dazing, party Of
them is surrounded by the natives.
When reused, they find themselves cut
off from the surf and allow themselves
to be driven in any direction chosen by
the men. Finally they are secured in a
slaughter corral, where they are per-
mitted some rest to cool, after which the
men kill with clubs all those whose skin
seems uninjured, and allow all others to
escape.
The dead seals are then skinned, the
skins are sailed and picked, rolled in
bundles and shipped to San francisco.
Here they are counted by the govern
ment agent and then forwarded to Lon
don in casks containing from forty to
eighty skins. In London they are dyed
and then shipped back for the greater
part of the United States, to the delight
of those who can buy them and putting
to despair those OF the fair sex who can
not.